ALIT highlights LY-80 Air Defence System

Aerospace Long-March International Trade Company (ALIT) is once again promoting the domestically and internationally successful LY-80 medium range surface-to-air missile (SAM) system.

The LY-80 is the export version of the HQ-16 surface-to-air (SAM) system, which is in service with China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and other countries in large quantities as their primary air defence system, according to ALIT.

It is used to provide area air protection for critical assets and ground-based troops by intercepting hostile aircraft, cruise missiles, air-to-ground missiles, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), and other airborne threats.

The LY-80 features an interception range between 3.5km to 70km and altitude of 20,000 metres, with a single shot kill probability of 85 percent for aircraft and 60 percent for missiles.

The basic LY-80 unit comprises a command-and-control (C2) cell equipped with a surveillance radar vehicle and a C2 vehicle and three mobile firing batteries, with each of these composed of a tracking and guidance radar vehicle and four road mobile launch vehicles. These vehicles are armed with a missile launcher with six missile canisters.

Pakistan announced during IDEAS 2014 that it had awarded a deal worth $226 million for three LY-80 batteries and a IBIS-150 radar. The missile system has already entered service with the army, according to a March 2017 statement by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR).

General Qamar Javed Bajwa, the Chief of Army Staff of the Pakistan Army, said at the LY-80’s induction ceremony that the missile system will increase the service’s “response capability to current and emerging air threats”.

A maritime version of the missile, the LY-80N, is also being offered. This is designed to provide area air and missile defence for naval fleets against threats such as air and surface-launched anti-ship missiles and aircraft. The missile features a short reaction time of just eight seconds and is capable of engaging threats out to a range of between 15 metres to 20,000 metres interception altitude.

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